Training of comics trainers for a global education program in Tallinn, Estonia

The two-day workshop was facilitated by Heidi Leino and Leif Packalen from World Comics Finland. 25 school visitors were trained. The program is modeled after the Finnish Youth Academy's global education by comics, which has been active since 2009 in Finland. Cooperation partner: Mondo in Estonia. Funding: EU.

2012 October

Grassroots comics training for participation of the youth, Helsinki, Finland

At Ruuti-expo, an event to engage youth in society, there was also a grassroots comics workshop, led by Hanna Arvela of World Comics Finland. The workshop was arranged jointly with CIMO (the European Youth Exchange organisation).

2012 October

Grassroots comics training for mentally handicappped, Karis, Finland

A two-day grassroots comics workshop at the VNF School in Karjaa was held for a group of mentally handicapped women. The workshop was a part of the Open Minds program at the school. The workshop was led by Leif Packalen.

2012 August

Training workshop for school visitors for development education, Helsinki, Finland

The Youth Academy project needed to train people for a development education campaign using grassroots comics in schools and youth centres. The first workshop was for updating the skills of visitors trained last year and the second was for training 25 new visitors. Resource persons: Hanna Anttila and Heidi Leino of WCF and Niina Salmi of Nuorten Akatemia. Cooperation partner: Nuorten Akatemia (Youth Academy). Funding: Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Development Education Funds).

2012 March

Training on running short comics workshops, Helsinki, Finland

A one-day training/seminar on how to run 2h comics workshops for school groups visiting the Museum for Contemporary Art, KIASMA in Helsinki. The museum has an exhibition on contemporary Finnish comics from April to September 2012 and wanted to prepare personnel to receive the school groups. Leif Packalen led the workshop, which was arranged by the Finnish Comics Society and funded by the museum.

2011 December

Workshop on training of grassroots comics, Helsinki, Finland

A one-day introduction to grassroots comics training was given to eight participants as a part of the Finnish Comics Society's anti -racism Initiative. The participants were mainly youth activists and comics teachers from different organisations. Intolerance and ethnic conflict were chosen as themes. The workshop was held in Happi youth centre in Helsinki.

2011 November

Grassroots comics for media students, Nykarleby, Finland

Novia folk high school in Nykarleby, had a two-day Swedish language workshop on the grassroots comics method for 24 of their media students (their main subject is photography). Their comics were about environment, student life, school and transport issues. Most of the participants explored for their first time comics as a visual communication medium.

2011 November

Grassroots comics workshop, Karis, Finland

VNF, a folk high school in Karis, had a one-day Swedish language workshop on the grassroots comics method for twenty of their visual communication students. The students are taught in making mainstream comics, and this was the first time they made comics about real issues. Their comics were mainly about student life and school issues, such as food, language conflicts, schedules, etc.

2011 October

Comics tutor workshop, Nairobi, Kenya

The workshop was the opening of our cooperation with the organisation Youth Alive! Kenya (www.youthalivekenya.org). We trained eighteen grassroots comics tutors for six different youth and human rights organisations in Nairobi. The tutors ran three test workshops immediately after their training. Resource persons: Ms. Hanna Arvela and Leif Packalen from World Comics Finland. Funding: Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Cultural Cooperation Funds), Helsinki. Read the full report.

2011 September

Training workshop for school visitors for development education, Helsinki, Finland

A one-day introduction to grassroots comics was given to fourteen participants of Helsinki Comics Centre "Comics Teacher Training Week". Five participants came from Latvia, four from Estonia and the rest from Finland. The participants were comics teachers from different organisations and schools. Ethnic conflict was chosen as theme.

2011 March

Grassroots comics workshop, Tampere, Finland

Nine youth workers participated in a workshop to gain skills on the method of grassroots comics for use in youth groups especially in rural municipalities. They came from the network of Nuorten Akatemia (Youth Academy) in Tampere. The workshop was part of the DYNAMO training scheme, which is funded by the European Union. Leif Packalen conducted the workshop.

2011 March

Grassroots comics workshop, Oulu, Finland

Teachers and teacher students were trained in the methods of grassroots comics for global education. The participants came from the network of Maailmankoulu (School for the World) in Oulu. After the workshop, the participants had several new ideas of how to use grassroots comics also in other subjects such as literature, religion, environment and natural sciences, and art. The workshop was run by special education teacher Hanna Anttila, who is also a long time activist of World Comics Finland.

2011 March

Grassroots comics workshop, Turku, Finland

A group of school teachers was trained in how to make and how to use grassroots comics in global education. The response was enthusiastic and the participants were very keen and inspired to use the grassroots comics method in their own teaching. They came from the network of Maailmankoulu (School for the World) in Turku. The workshop was run by comics artist Anna Sailamaa.

2011 March

Teaser workshop on grassroots comics, London, England

Staff members of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) were instructed in the grassroots comics method in a half-day teaser workshop at CAFOD headquarters in London. The workshop was run by Leif Packalen. A small grassroots comics exhibition was shown at a reception for NGO people, and it was on display later in CAFOD's exhibition hall.

2010

2010 November to 2011 January

A story to tell - comics sessions with senior citizens, Vantaa, Finland

Weekly comics sessions with senior citizens who made comics on childhood memories, dramatic events in their lives, and family history. Cooperation partner: Havurasti Center, an activity center for senior citizens in the Havukoski area of Vantaa.

The sessions were facilitated by Leif Packalen and staff at the center.

2010 November

Grassroots comics workshop, Helsinki, Finland

Ten youth workers and teachers were trained in how to make and how to use grassroots comics in youth activities. The participants came from the network of Nuorten Akatemia (Youth Academy) from different parts of Finland. Resource person: Leif Packalen. Funding: Nuorten Akatemia. The workshop was held at the Helsinki Comics Centre.

2010 November

Grassroots comics workshop, Hameenlinna, Finland

Eight students got training in how to make and how to use grassroots comics in different activities. The participants came from social studies schools in Hameenlinna. Resource person: Leif Packalen. Funding: ARX-Centre, Hameenlinna.

Short workshop at the United Networks of Young Peace Builders, African Students Conference.

2009 October-November

Training of trainers, Helsinki, Finland

Training 10 youth workers to incorporate grassroots comics in their activities in the Youth Centers of Helsinki City. Cooperation partner: Helsinki City Authority.

2009 October

Comics tutor workshop in Dudu, Rajasthan, India

Participants: 20 tutor-trainees from India and Nepal. About 40 local ngo-activists participated as a test-group. Resource persons: Ms. Kaisa Leka and Leif Packalen from World Comics Finland and Sharad Sharma from World Comics India. Funding: Finnish Government NGO funds and World Comics Finland.

Participants: 20 tutor-trainees mainly from the North East States. About 40 local NGO-activists participated as a test-group. Resource persons: Ms. Hanna Azevedo and Leif Packalen from World Comics Finland and Sharad Sharma from World Comics India. Funding: Finnish Government NGO funds and World Comics Finland.

During an evaluation on the UFF-ADPP grassroots comics activities, Leif Packalen ran a workshop for tutors in Namathanda. The method of making local comics has spread very well in the organisation, more than 100 workshops have been arranged, 60 new comics trainers trained, and thousands of comics copied and distributed.

Comics tutor course for primary teacher trainees in the Faculty of Education, University of Oulu (Grassroot comics in global education), Finland

Three-day course for primary teacher trainees who specialise in arts education. The course was organised as part of the university curriculum. Last day of the course was spent running workshops for pupils in Oulu Teacher Training School.

Cooperation partners: Maailmankoulu and Faculty of Education, University of Oulu

2007 October

Comics tutor workshop in Jamshedpur (Tatanagar) Jharkhand, India

Participants: 22 tutor-trainees from World Comics India's partner organisations from 13 states in India. An advanced group of 13 experienced WCI trainers worked on improving their own comics-making skills. Resource persons: Ms. Hanna Anttila, Leif Packalen, Ville Tietavainen from World Comics Finland; Tarun Bose and Sharad Sharma from World Comics India. Funding: Finnish Government NGO funds and World Comics Finland.

Four follow-up workshops to the above were arranged in Chimoio, Nacala, Namathanda and Maputo, where the newly trained tutors ran their own workshops with backup provided by four resource persons. Here, about 50 persons were trained in how to produce local wallposter comics.

Cooperation partners: Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility (FPSR) and the Palestinian organisation Beit atfal Assoumud (BAS) (in English: The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training). The idea of the workshop was to train 15 young community activists from different BAS centers in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, so that they could later run their own comics workshops in the camps.

In 2006 we had planned to run a second workshop with BAS, but the war with Israel forced us to postpone the workshop to 2007. Again, in 2007, the attack on the Nahr-al-Bared Camp changed the humanitarian situation drastically there, and only very short workshop sessions could be run by Finnish Psychologist Ms. Kirsti Palonen. The manuscripts of the comics were sent via Internet to Finland and commented upon by Leif Packalen and Ms. Johanna Rojola.

2005 June-July

Wallposter comics workshop, Njombe, Tanzania

The 12-day workshop was arranged by the Finnish Tanzanian Friendship Society (FTFS) as a part of an ongoing hiv/aids campaigning support project with the Tanzanian Lutheran organisation, UKWATA. Resource persons: Ms. Hanna Arvela and Leif Packalen from World Comics Finland and Sammi Mwamkinga from Tanzania Popular Media Organisation (TAPOMA). Funding: Finnish Govt NGO funds and FTFS.

Cooperation partners: African Movement for Working Children and Youth and Plan Finland. Participants: 20 movement activists, from eight African countries were instructed during seven days in how to produce wallposter comics. Leif Packalen and Sharad Sharma from World Comics Finland and India were the main instructors. The workshop was sponsored by PLAN.